Description

This climb is rated 5.6 in the guidebook, and the first pitch is just that. Anyone with any idea where to exit left onto the chickenheads please post to comments....

1) 5.6 Climb right-leaning crack until you can scrable up cl.4 section to huge, brushy ledge; fun, well-protected 5.6. 170' 2) 5.7+? Could not figure how to get off the stinkin' ledge!!! (tried left and failed) Finally climbed up and slightly right into an obtuse, ill-defined corner. Pro here was iffy and I ended up making a 5.7ish move above some less-than-ideal gear at a little bulge. After this move you are in the chicken heads. Belay where ever you want. 150' 3&4) Easy chickenhead climbing up and left. Head for the big tree as every other climb. 200'

Location

Start at huge right-leaning crack system about 100' right of Bender-Axen (around corner bulge)

Protection

Regular rack works pretty well. First pitch good (I used my #4 & #5 Camalot). Second pitch (my way) mostly small stuff in iffy rock. Third pitch slings for chickenheads.

Hey Karl, SQII says pitch one is to the shoulder, which as I recall is a pretty good ledge with plates that lead left for a couple of moves then very easy rock after that. That is the nature of adventure climbing. Sometimes you find and stay on the route sometimes you don't.

LUKE LUKE LUKE. He never mentioned anything about when he was on it. So why bring that up. It is the FS job to make sure we know about these things. Okay so maybe it is our responsibility but it is a totally bogus and Bull#*"^ closure with no science to support it. Not only that the peregrines are 300% above goal for AZ and they are not even on the endangered species list. So don't even get me started unless you want to start a forum thread because I can rant about this for a while.

Maybe I looked to go left too late. But I wandered all over the brushy ledge trying to go left. The easy climbing was tantalizingly close, but I could never see a way to get there. My last attempt (before going up my 5.7 ugly route) ended when I pulled two big handhold off. Any idea how close to the end of the crack the leftward escape is? I have a feeling I went way too far up the cl.4 ledge before looking (although I did go back and never saw anything obvious). This would be a good, well protected alternative route to get to the chickenheads (different from standard/bender-axen, etc) if I thought I knew how to get left. And, no, I did not do it during the closure. This great epic was last summer (07)

I was thinking of trying it again. (kind of why I was looking for some new beta) I would probably need to find a different partner.... I don't think the one from last time would stand for it. She nearly killed me when she saw the junk I had climbed and how pathetic my pro was. Its kind of like the great white whale: that easy move left is out there. Somewhere. Just waiting for me to finally find it.

My bad. Should have first asked when Karl climbed the route. I too think the closure has some bunkness to it, but it is in fact the way it is. I know there are no biologists out there monitoring. I know the USFS doesn't have even one person to put up there to enforce the closure. I guess thats why climbers have to police themselves somewhat. I would love to be up at the Summit crags everyday as of weeks ago. The weather has been perfect to be up that high on the mountain. As it is I have been clipping bolts lower down. Can't wait to get up there.